An Invercargill Māori language school has been targeted in a racist attack.
The phrase 'f**k you n****r lover' was spraypainted on Te Wharekura o Arowhenua's front sign on Monday night.
A photo of the racist graffiti was posted to Facebook by former pupil Ne'Kol Hura, who now teaches at Te Kura Kaupapa Māori o Hoani Waititi in west Auckland.
She called it the "ugly face of racism", and gave Newshub permission to run the confronting image.
"To think somebody hates us that much to just write all over our school," she told the Herald.
"We're [trying to] make our kids proud to be Māori, to talk Māori when you go out into the shops, wear a pounamu, wear your tā moko.
"This stuff just pushes them back and makes them [ashamed]. It's not acceptable."
Police said they have been "providing reassurance patrols" in the Newfield area since the vandalism occurred and investigating.
Newshub has contacted the police for an update on their investigation, which came just hours before anti-Islamic posters were plastered over a brand new mosque in nearby Queenstown.
Hura believes education is key to stopping racial hatred.
"Let's normalise te reo Māori here in the South and represent our iwi and tūpuna no matter what," she wrote on Facebook.
"Let's get comfortable in the discomfort of the awkward conversations that need to take place with pākehā living here on Kai Tahu whenua. Let's educate them on how we became the minority here in Southland, and let us educate in love and compassion rather than anger and hate."
Friends were shocked by the graffiti.
"We must remember that they learnt racism they weren't born racist, so that tells me that their personal environment is this way or they have been strongly influenced by what's happening around them," one person said.
"They will realise it's cool to be Māori," said another.
